Rise Of Samurai Slot Review
A wooden shrine frame edges the reels, dark pillars carved with gold scrollwork, and behind it all a pink-violet dusk fades over a misty grove. It’s a quiet setting for Rise Of Samurai, Pragmatic Play‘s plainest samurai build.
What makes it worth a look is unusual for a 25-liner this simple: the shape of the bonus round is yours to set. Five stacked symbols, five multipliers, one choice, made at the start and never revised.
The numbers are straightforward. It’s a 5×3 grid with 25 paylines and an RTP of 96.47%, and every symbol on the reels arrives stacked. It sits alongside Rise Of Samurai Megaways and Rise Of Samurai III in the studio’s samurai line, and it’s the plainest of the three.
Stacked Reels on Twenty-Five Lines
All symbols pay left to right on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel. Only the highest win is paid per line, and wins across multiple paylines are added together. Every win is multiplied by the bet per line, which keeps the arithmetic clean.
The defining base game quirk is that every symbol is stacked except the Scatter. On a 5×3 grid with 25 lines, a single full stack covers an entire reel. Several stacks landing together can fill large stretches of the screen with the same character, and the paylines running through those reels resolve together, so the win counter climbs in a hurry.
There’s a clear split in the paytable. The four character symbols pay from two of a kind, which matters more than it sounds when each of them arrives in stacks: a two-of-a-kind pay that would be pocket change elsewhere can arrive six or nine times over when the stacks align. The four shields sit below them and pay from three of a kind.
The paytable runs from the richest symbol down, with values given as coin wins per line for two, three, four and five of a kind:
- Wild – 0.80 / 2.40 / 8.00 / 32.00, and it stands in for every symbol except the Scatter
- Red Samurai – 0.24 / 0.80 / 3.20 / 8.00
- White-haired Woman – 0.16 / 0.64 / 2.00 / 4.00
- Blue Samurai – 0.16 / 0.56 / 1.60 / 2.40
- Green Woman Warrior – 0.08 / 0.40 / 1.20 / 2.00
- Gold Coins Shield and Purple Flower Shield – 0.24 / 0.80 / 1.20 from three of a kind
- Blue Sword Shield and Green Kanji Shield – 0.16 / 0.64 / 1.04 from three of a kind
Two things stand out in those numbers. The Wild pays four times what the Red Samurai does at the top of the ladder, so a stack of wilds is worth more than any character stack of the same length.
And the gap between the best and worst five-of-a-kind character pays is a factor of four, which is narrow by the standards of the format – the ladder is flat enough that any full character stack is a decent result.
Because the paytable is expressed per line, the shields are best read as filler between character wins rather than targets in their own right. A full reel of shields will pay, but it pays at the bottom rate and only from the third reel onwards. The characters are where the money is concentrated, and stacking is what delivers them.
The Wild deserves a word of its own, because it’s the single most valuable symbol on the grid and it’s stacked like everything else. It substitutes for all symbols except the Scatter, so a run of wilds across the middle reels can complete several character paylines in the same spin. It’s the only symbol that improves every other symbol’s stack at once.
Multiple Free Spins Options
Triggering the Round
Landing three or more Scatter symbols anywhere on the reels opens the round with 5 free spins. The Scatter is the one symbol that doesn’t stack, so it arrives one reel position at a time, and it can land anywhere – position doesn’t matter, only the count.
Choosing Your Option
Before the first free spin plays, the game presents a choice of five options. Each pairs a stacked symbol with a win multiplier:
- Super Stacked Multiplier 1x
- Super Stacked Multiplier 2x
- Super Stacked Multiplier 3x
- Super Stacked Multiplier 4x
- Super Stacked Multiplier 5x
Special reels are in play during the round. Each option has its own reel set, built around a single stacked symbol matching the choice you made, so the option you pick decides what the round looks like as much as what it pays. Under the 5x option, stacked pays run up to 10,000 – the highest figure the game attaches to itself anywhere.
The choice is a straight ladder of aggression. Each option’s reel set is built around its own single stacked symbol, and the multiplier attached to it – from 1x up to 5x – is what sets the options apart. Picking 5x is the bold line, picking 1x is the patient one, and 3x is the fence most will end up sitting on.
Retriggers, With No Limits
Landing three or more Scatters during the round grants 3 additional free spins, played under the option you originally chose. There’s no cap on how many times this can happen, so a run of Scatters can keep a round alive well past its opening five spins, compounding on the same stacked reel set each time.
Free Spins wins are added to the payline win, and the round pays under the same left-to-right, highest-win-per-line rules as the base game. Nothing else changes: no second feature, no side ladder, no wheel. The option you picked at the door is the round you play, for as long as the Scatters keep it running.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.1/10
The shrine is a calm place to spend time. Stacked warriors drift across a handsome painterly grid, the wild fills their gaps, and wins arrive in blocks rather than drips. The reason to choose this over its busier sequels is the say it gives you: five options at the start of the bonus round, and no other 25-liner this plain offers that much control over how it pays.
That choice is the strength, because it’s a real one. Low multipliers stack the richer symbols, high multipliers stack leaner ones and pay faster, and unlimited retriggers compound a decision you made rather than one the machine made for you. The weakness is everything outside that moment. Between Scatters there is only stacking – one idea, repeated – and five opening spins is a short round if they don’t come.
This suits the kind of player who’d rather set their own bonus round than be dealt one, and who’s happy watching a pretty grid in the quiet stretches. The sequels added wheels and sticky wilds for everyone else. The original keeps its shrine plain, and it wears that plainness well: dusk still settles softly over this grove.
Rise Of Samurai FAQs
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What is the RTP of Rise Of Samurai?
The RTP of Rise Of Samurai is 96.47%. -
How do you trigger the Free Spins round in Rise Of Samurai?
The round opens when three or more Scatter symbols appear anywhere on the reels, and it begins with 5 free spins. Position doesn’t matter – only the count does. -
What are the five free spins options?
At the start of the round you choose one of five Super Stacked Multiplier options, from 1x up to 5x. Each option has its own reel set built around a single stacked symbol, so your choice sets both the multiplier and what the round looks like. -
Can free spins retrigger in Rise Of Samurai?
Yes. Landing three or more Scatters during the round grants 3 additional free spins under your original option, and there’s no limit on retriggers. -
How many paylines does Rise Of Samurai have?
Rise Of Samurai pays on 25 fixed paylines, with only the highest win paid per line and all line wins added together. -
What is the grid size of Rise Of Samurai?
Rise Of Samurai runs on a 5×3 grid: five reels and three rows. -
Who makes Rise Of Samurai?
Rise Of Samurai is made by Pragmatic Play. -
When is Rise Of Samurai released?
Rise Of Samurai’s release date is 2 January 2021.
